Yes, you read that right. It’s the sole conclusion one reasonably reaches upon reading MHARR’s (*) 10/27/2014 Press Release. Peruse this redacted, but still lengthy sentence, and decide for yourself:

“ ‘Working Group’ (@) U.S. Department of Energy (re) manufactured housing energy conservation standards…has recommended…costly new standards (to) increase consumer purchase price of a single-section manufactured home by an average of (‘Gasp!’) $2,170.00.”

This heady dollar amount would be in addition to the 165 percent increase in HUD label fees effected recently; and ‘passed onto unsuspecting prospective homebuyers’!

Apparently, their new home purchase price increase could be even higher, according to MHARR, who further writes in the same Press Release:

“…based on relevant costs for smaller (home) manufacturers, indicate the retail price increases would actually range from $4,745.00 for a single-section home, to $6,234.00 for a double-section (sic) home in large (unspecified) areas of the country.”

Now, let’s return to the worrisome prognostication that, “‘Three Strikes’ and manufactured housing will likely out of the affordable housing game” once and for all! How so? Well, recall these historic strikes against the manufactured housing industry:

STRIKE # 1. Circa 1998 – 2002. Flagrant abuses of chattel capital to fund new home purchases within (then) manufactured home communities resulted in, according to the CFPBs (*) 9/28/14 White Paper, at least $1.3 billion dollars in MH repossessions! And more than a decade later, easily accessible chattel capital has not returned to manufactured housing one whit.

And STRIKE # 3? You just might be reading about it, for the first time, right here! In summary and conclusion: 1) Easy access to chattel capital goes away nary to return; 2) We’re overregulated to the point where homebuyers, who need our brand of affordable housing (*), can no longer qualify for it; and now, 3) Would be do-gooder outsiders, under PC (*) auspices of ‘energy conservation standards’, appear to favor jacking the purchase price of manufactured homes out of the reach of individuals and families needing, but who’re least capable of buying, new homes!

So, if one truly cares about the present and future of HUD-Code manufactured housing, what is one to do? Simple! For starters, reach out to your respective national advocacy body – there’re two of them in and around Washington, DC – and ask specifically whether MHARR ‘has it right or wrong’! If wrong, request a detailed explanation why the numbers are incorrect. And, whether ‘the numbers’ are right or wrong, pass a copy of that information onto me. Why?

What is needed now, is honest-to-goodness ‘cost benefit analysis’ of said ‘energy conservation standards’ increasing prices for new HUD-Code homes. Better this done in the light of day, than behind the scenes, as with other recent regulatory cost shenanigans.

II.

COBA7® What a Difference a Year Makes!

There’s renewed interest, on the part of LLLCommunity owners, as to who will succeed me as national asset class researcher, resource source, print & online communicator, networking & deal-making event planner, historian, professional property management trainer, and official ombudsman (press).

Me? No real change here. Carolyn and I are onboard for the long haul – till health fails, she says ‘retire!’, or a new leadership team is in place and well handling all seven functions of the exciting, growing Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance®.

Are new leadership team prospects in view? Yes! And not just one possibility, but five! Three are in the Midwest, one on the East coast, one on the West coast. In one instance, a state MHAssociation, with excess office space and able staff is toying with the idea. In another, a well known product/service supplier is considering adding COBA7®, in part, as a market ‘draw’; and three – that I know of – LLLCommunity portfolio owners/operators believe the momentum and work of the alliance of ‘MHInsiders’ must continue! And no, nary a word of interest from either national advocacy body. No surprise there.

So, if you’re reading this, and haven’t yet affiliated with COBA7®, to become a bona fide ‘MHInsider’, do so soon, and join the more than 200 businesses who’re already affiliates! Simply phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. All segments of the MHIndustry are welcome! And know there’re more LLLCommunity owners/operators affiliated with COBA7® today, than the total number of realty asset class members among all other national trade advocacy bodies combined!

***

End Notes.

(*) MHARR = Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform

(*) Consumer Finance Protection Bureau

(*) affordable housing = “Housing is affordable when individuals or households ‘…earning less than half the Area Median Income or AMI’, can afford to rent a conventional apartment and or buy a home in their local housing market.”. Quoted from Bruce Savage’s book, The First 20 Years!, PMN Publishing, Indpls, IN., 2013, pp.105 & 106

Introduction to this week’s COBA7® blog posting at community-investor.com website

I.

‘Official Ombudsman to the MHIndustry.’ Two-story HUD Code homes, Lease-Option, and more, on the agenda of COBA7® in behalf of affiliates (‘MHInsiders’) nationwide!

II.

‘First National Advocacy Body Bows Out of National Strategic Planning Meeting Plans’
No surprise here, just disappointment. Perhaps Land-lease-lifestyle community owners should teach manufactured housing industry folk something about CONSOLIDATION.

III.

‘Entrepreneurism Stymied by Stockholm Syndrome’. You think? Bold commentary by faithful blog flogger makes one stop and think about current and future business models.

I.

Official Ombudsman to the MHIndustry

Stream of inquiries & complaints continue, as COBA7® fulfills its’ important & timely role as Official Ombudsman (press) to the manufactured housing industry & land-lease-lifestyle community real estate asset class!

Two story HUD-Code homes, a popular concept but rare in application, have been around more than a decade, with prototype multifamily projects in southern California and in Maryland. Renewed interest is evident today, as at least one private parties struggle to bring ‘new floor plans, with a WOW! Factors’ to fruition; and at least one HUD-Code home manufacturer plans to run a new (two story) floor plan through its production line in November. Your official MHIndustry ombudsman (press), COBA7®, is ‘right in there’ helping make this happen! And if YOU want ‘in’ on this project, let me know directly, and COBA7® will add you to the MHInsider information distribution list.

Lease-option. Seems everyone’s heard about it, but few understand the concept, practice and appropriate application. That might be about to change! How so? The MHIndustry’s leading advocate for lease-option practice on-site in LLLCommunities, is working with at least one independent finance company and industry consultants, conducting state-by-state research. Near term goal is to take a generic lease-option program public! If you have helpful and definitive information, regarding this timely, and possibly industry-saving deal-making technique, and are willing to share it, let me know via the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSG or 633-4764.

Those are but two of several ombudsman (press) projects ‘in the works’ at COBA7®. And no, we’re not looking for more to do at this time – unless there’s legitimate immediacy involved. Just want YOU, as COBA7® MHinsiders, to know how your affiliation fees are used for the good of the MHIndustry & LLLCommunities.

II.

First National Advocacy Body Bows Out of National Strategic Planning Meeting Plans.

OK, this will be a ‘short take’ on the subject. As faithful readers of this blog posting know, two National Public Forums occurred 9/11/2014, at the 23rd annual International Networking Roundtable, in Peachtree City, GA. They were designed to lay the groundwork, via an Official WHITE PAPER, for a National Strategic Planning Meeting planned and hosted this Winter. The hope has been to have said gathering facilitated by the two national advocacy bodies claiming to represent the manufactured housing industry, along with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance; and, to have it OPEN to anyone in the industry and realty asset class, small business and large, willing to pay their own way to participate.

Well, the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform, a.k.a. MHARR, has made it clear they are not interested in participating in this potentially industry-rejuvenating effort. That leaves just one national advocacy body in play, along with COBA7®.

What does this mean? Well, as they say, ‘It’s in the eye of the beholder.’ Frankly, we’ve found no one who feels the National Strategic Planning Meeting is anything but a timely and potentially industry-saving initiative that should have occurred a year or more ago! But to date, there’s been no communication, of any sort, from the remaining national advocacy body, regarding this matter.

What happens if both manufactured housing national advocacy bodies decide to ‘sit this out’ and not participate in a National Strategic Planning Meeting initiative to return our industry to its’ prosperity of the mid-1970s, and prior to the turn of this century? What do you think? There certainly will be a clear defeatist message there worth pondering – and remembering, during the months and year (2015) ahead.

III.

Entrepreneurism Stymied by Stockholm Syndrome?!

To understand the following commentary from a faithful blog flogger (reader), scroll back thru blog archives at communnity-investor.com (website) and reread blog posting # 312, and Part III of posting # 313; reading in part:

“’Manufactured Housing Industry Likely Suffers from Stockholm Syndrome’ or
captive-bonding, ‘..a psychological phenomenon in which a hostage (i.e. manufactured housing) expresses empathy and sympathy, and has positive feelings toward their captor (i.e. their HUD regulator), to the point of defending and identifying with or perpetuating them (i.e. Accepting a ‘165% inspection/labeling fee increase’ without complaint).” Recall this passage shortly.

Just last week, in blog posting # 319, Part III title posed this question on another subject altogether: ‘Next Big Story’ OR ‘Much Noise About Nothing’? – describing the…

Now you’re ready for the aforementioned commentary from a faithful blog flogger:

“HUD is lost and has no clue – good grief! Relative to RV/MH, I’ll be your curmudgeon George. I say leave it alone (i.e. the ‘overhang’ issue) and join in creating (housing) products customers want, that are not regulated, and throw HUD out the window. What the RV guys are doing is creating new profitable business (products), and we should see it that way, not as a threat (to manufactured housing). Any reason we can’t join in? This is FREE ENTERPRISE at work. It’s time to understand all HUD has done, and can do, is hold us back. Fire them.” NB

Pretty strong words, I agree. But it’s important they see the light of day, as they articulate one point of view, in my opinion, not heard frequently enough in national manufactured housing leadership circles.

Sure I understand, as should you. In the first instance (re Stockholm Syndrome), how the MHIndustry since 1976, has turned the HUD ‘regulatory lemon into lemonade’, thanks in large part, to the federal preemptive nature of this sole national building code. Today, housing manufacturers don’t want to lose this distinct marketing advantage, even at the expense of no longer being true FREE ENTERPRISE practitioners.

And in the second instance (i.e. Whether porch overhang square footage is included in, or kept separate from, the 400’ limit for manufactured home applicability); ‘the jury is still out’, and will be, until RV & MH industries come together in agreement; lobby for legislation to protect their respective but related industries(*); or, put themselves entirely at the ‘mercy’ of HUD.

What difference does it make? Simply this; whether FREE ENTERPRISE or Stockholm Syndrome prevails; or the latter, once again, stymies the former.

End Note. (*) Recreational Vehicle Alliance for Camping & Travel is already rallying support for H.R. 5658, The Recreational Vehicle Certainty Act of 2014. ‘This bill makes clear, recreational vehicles are not houses, and HUD has no regulatory jurisdiction.’

What No One Else Will Tell You About Insights & Errors Gleaned from the CFPB’s ‘Manufactured-housing (sic) Consumer Finance in the U.S.’ White Paper!
Installment # 1 = last week’s blog posting at community-investor.com website

Installment # 2 = this blog posting at community-investor.com website

Last week we identified interesting and helpful ‘stats’ gleaned from the subject White Paper. This week we focus on errors, terminology missteps, and confusing statements contained in said document.

There’s this questionable statement: “Historically, around 25-30 percent of manufactured homes have been placed within manufactured housing communities, though the share of new homes placed in communities has grown in recent years.” P.9 Really? During what time frame? Many, if not most, manufactured housing veterans will likely tell a different story, and it goes something like this:

During the 1970s, as much as 80 percent of ‘mobile home’ shipments wound up sited in (then) ‘mobile home parks’. That percentage shifted 180 degrees by the mid to late 1990s, when 80 percent of ‘manufactured home’ shipments were sited on parcels of improved realty conveyed fee simple, and were commonly referred to as being land-home-packages, whether installed within subdivisions or on scattered building sites. This occurred as the manufactured housing industry, for a relatively short time, competed head-to-head with stick or site-builders for market share.

Since the turn of the century, an increasing number of manufactured homes (After 2009, oft referred to as Community Series Homes or CSH Models, vs. Developer Series Homes, a.k.a. ‘Big Box = Big Bucks!’ models of the earlier era), now ship directly into land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities. Why? LLLCommunity owners/operators can no longer rely on independent (street) MHRetailers, or even company stores, to ‘fill their vacant rental homesites’ with new homes, given lack of easy access to chattel capital. Today’s LLLCommunity owners/operators often must sell, even seller finance on-site transactions to remain viable. An apt, but disturbing contra sidebar to this trend, is most small LLLCommunities (i.e. 85% of 50,000+/- such properties in the U.S., characterized by fewer than 100 rental homesites apiece), have NOT shifted to the ‘buy here, pay here’ business model of the 500+/- portfolio owners/operators just described!

“…the decision whether to title a manufactured home as real or personal property affects property taxation, applicability of consumer protection laws, and financing options.” P.10 And more! This statement is a precursor to the (maybe) next paradigm shift to confront manufactured housing’s business model of the past 70 years. Think about it. And if you’re unclear about what’s being alluded to here, read this blog posting weekly (to learn) – or contact me directly!

“Restrictive zoning and prohibitive land development costs are among the reasons there has not been significant development of new manufactured home communities in the past decade, though recent trends indicate that investment in existing communities is increasing.” P.11 While the last statement is certainly true, the first one is incomplete. Add these to the list of reasons for choked development: difficulty securing raw land development financing, and perhaps ‘most important of all’, lack of easy to access chattel capital, to finance the sale of new manufactured homes on-site in newly developed land-lease-lifestyle communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities). This stagnant state of affairs will not change until easy access to chattel capital returns!

‘Manufactured Housing Share of Occupied Housing Units, by State’ graphic, on page # 12, as interesting as it is, e.g. 17% of homes in South Carolina = manufactured homes, while only 1% in NJ, MA, & MD contains a fallacy. Of concern is the paltry 2% shown for IL, surrounded by 5% in IN, 6% in MO, 4% in IA, & 3% in WI. Frankly, Illinois has approximately the same number of LLLCommunities as Indiana, but due to unique ‘home rule’ provisions in Illinois, (i.e. giving ‘home rule’ cities control over LLLCommunities within their boundaries, rather than the state board of health), many such properties are absent from the state inventory. Reality? Illinois has closer to 5% share of manufactured homes in the state, not the 2% shown in the White Paper graphic.

“Nationwide, ground rents in non-age-restricted manufactured home communities averaged $393 per month as of late 2013.” P.21 (citing information from a press release). Not! The LLLCommunities picked for inclusion in these various regional studies are, by and large, ‘institutional investment grade’ in nature, i.e. 200+/- rental homesites in size, and for the most part, in one or another of the 500+/- known property portfolios existent throughout the U.S. and Canada today. Truth be told – and we will never really know, given the difficulty of polling Mom & Pop owners/operators of LLLCommunities containing 100 and fewer sites in size (Again, comprising approximately 85% of the 50,000+/- such properties in the U.S. today), the national average rent – among ALL SIZES of LLLCommunities , is likely closer to $220-250/month, than $393.00! After all, there’re still smaller, rural LLLCommunities, where monthly site rent barely exceeds $100.00 per month. This misleading $393.00 stat, unfortunately, might encourage rent increases among properties charging much less per month.

And if anyone can make sense of the following statement, please let me know:
“The monthly cost differences between manufactured and site-built housing were narrower among renters in general, and in particular in non-metropolitan areas, where monthly rents for manufactured homes were about $100 less than rents for site-built properties ($654 compared with $551).” P.21 Maybe makes sense IF comparing one rental manufactured home on a parcel of land, with a stick-built home also rented and on a like-sized parcel of land. True or false?

“…a comparison of the prevalence of occupied manufactured homes in U.S. counties and various available measures of local affordable housing availability shows no clear correlation between housing availability and the proportion of households that live in manufactured homes.” P.22 Aside from a couple missing commas, to ease understanding, this is one of those instances where a writer inserts the word or concept of ‘housing affordability’ or ‘affordable housing’, without specifically defining how it’s being used. Would have been illustrative here. For example, here’s the definition of ‘affordable housing’ cited in Bruce Savage’s The First 20 Years! (released by PMN Publishing during year 2013), “Housing is affordable when individuals or households ‘…earning less than half the Area Median Income or AMI’, can afford to rent a conventional apartment and or buy a home in their local housing market.” Pp. 105 & 106

“Since 2004, about one-quarter of new manufactured homes were titled as real estate, though in recent years this proportion has decreased; in 2013 only 14% of new manufactured homes were titled as real property.” P.23 Hmm. It’d be nice (and convenient) If we could use this as the bellwether statistic demonstrating increased number of new HUD-Code manufactured homes (i.e. Community Series Homes) being shipped directly into land-lease-lifestyle communities. But I dare say that’s not possible. We still need HUD-Code manufacturers to step up to the plate and provide those ‘stats’ so we can track the trend – and stimulate more home sales into LLLCommunities, and by the property owners/operators. HUD-Code home manufacturers; are you listening? We need your assistance, we need your statistical input, and the sooner the better!

“Production remains 15 percent lower than the overall peak in 1998 when production exceeded 373,000 units before it declined through the 2000s. Since 2009, however, shipments have showed slight but steady gains.” P.39 (Where have all the commas gone?) I don’t read the historic shipment numbers the same way. For example: 1998 = 372,843 (i.e. less than 373,000 units, not more); followed by 49,789 home shipments in 2009; 50,046 during 2010; 51,606 in 2011; 54,881 during 2012; and, 60,228 by year end 2013. Point? 60,228 home shipments is not ’15 percent lower than the overall peak in 1998’, but simply and tragically, ONLY 15 percent of the 372,943 homes shipped during that acme year! 15% off the 372,843 peak would be 316,917 units. We can only wish that’d been the case….

“The manufactured housing retail industry consists of dealerships which sell new and used manufactured homes to consumers through retail storefronts.” P.40 & “…the largest few manufacturers maintain company-owned networks of stores….” P.41. All that was true at the turn of this century, it’s far less true today. MHI staff, a couple years ago in Congressional testimony, cited 1100 independent (street) MHRetailers having been reduced in number to 400, perhaps even fewer today. But, something else has changed, to pick up part of that home sales slack. Are you reading these paragraphs carefully? If so, you likely know who.

“There are about 60,000 land-lease manufactured home communities in the U.S.” p.42 per Housing Assistance Council case study in 2011. I beg to differ. The figure is closer to 50,000+/-. Read ‘Just How Many Are There’, Manufactured Housing Merchandiser. Free reprint available upon request. See end of next paragraph for ordering instructions.

“The largest publicly-held portfolio of manufactured-home communities is owned by Equity LifeStyle Properties, a Chicago-based REIT, and consists of 201 community properties with over 70,000 manufactured-home and park model homesites.” P.42 2014Q2 Investor Presentation cited. However, the 25th annual ALLEN REPORT lists ELS, Inc., as owning/operating, during year 2013, 376 LLLCommunities containing 138,869 rental (mix of MH & RV) homesites. Interesting differences in reporting. Copies of the 25th annual ALLEN REPORT are available ‘free on request’ till end of this year; then available only via affiliation with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance®, or COBA7® @ $544.95/year. Phone the Official MHIndustry HOTINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764 and leave a message.

“The industry has been marked in recent years by consolidation….” True, but it’s the unique, income-producing properties being talked about here, not the home manufacturers. Bottom line? In 1987 there were but 25 known property portfolio owners/operators; during year 2014 we polled 500+/- portfolio owners/operators! Who qualifies to be polled? A sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, or real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) that owns and or fee manages a minimum property portfolio of five LLLCommunities or 500+ rental homesites.

“Some communities support community occupancy by offering in-house lending to prospective manufactured-home buyers, either through the community’s line of credit or a partner lending institution.” P.43. That dual source statement barely scratches the surface, relative to all ten unique ways LLLCommunity owners/operators secure funds to support seller-financing of new and resale home transactions on-site. For the complete list, read End Notes contained in the Official WHITE PAPER, distributed during September 2014 at two National Public Forums held on 9/11 at the 23rd annual International Networking Roundtable in Peachtree City, GA. For a copy, again, phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE

Well, that about does it for the second installment parsing of the CFPB’s White Paper titled: ‘Manufactured-housing consumer finance in the United States’.

Hope YOU decide to affiliate with COBA7®. A couple hundred (+) of your peers have already done so, and are now ‘MHInsiders’, relative to key statistics and pithy information available nowhere else in the HUD-Code manufactured housing industry and the land-lease-lifestyle community real estate asset class!

As in the past, we’d like to hear and or read your comments on the preceding material. Send them to GFA c/o Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247, or fax to (317) 346-7158 or email: gfa7156@aol.com

II.

Calling All (would be) Authors!
Time is ripe for a fourth MHIndustry HOW TO Guide in 30 years

The following offer is open to anyone in the manufactured housing industry and or land-lease-lifestyle community (a.k.a. manufactured home community) real estate asset class! But first some background…

In 1988, I self-published Mobile Home Park Management, a 175 page paperback book. The first printing sold out within six months of its’ release. The book is in its’ sixth edition, retitled Landlease Community Management. Today, it is sold exclusively by the Institute of Real Estate Management (a.k.a. IREM), as its’ only approved text on this unique realty asset class, and via PMN Publishing. It is also the sole text used by the popular Manufactured Housing Manager®, or MHM® professional property management training and certification program, offered exclusively by the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance® or COBA7®.

In 1992, Ed Hicks, David Alley and I co-authored the first MHIndustry tome in two decades, titled Development, Marketing & Operation of Manufactured Home Communities. The 427 page case bound text was published by the law division of New York publisher, J. Wiley & Sons. Paired with a series of land development seminars during the 1990s, it spawned hundreds of new (then) manufactured home communities, and expansion of others. New copies today, are sold exclusively by PMN Publishing; used copies reportedly sell for $100.00+/- apiece via ebay.com. This text went through several printings until the housing market cooled soon after the turn of the century.

In 1996, with the assistance of eight primary contributors, and as many secondary contributors, I edited the 508 page text J. Wiley & Sons published with the title How to Find, Buy, Manage & Sell a Manufactured Home Community. This book is oft referred to as the ‘bible of MHCommunity investment’. A second edition debuted in 1998, and the book continues to sell well to this day, 18 years later! It too is exclusively sold via PMN Publishing and on ebay.com

In 2015, with co-authors and or contributors yet to be selected and identified, plans are afoot to pen (working title) Marketing, Sale & Financing of Homes in Land-lease-lifestyle Communities. Are YOU interested in being considered part of the writing team for this heady project? If so, read on….

If you believe you have the ABILITY to communicate in writing – even if not already published; have a decade or more manufactured housing marketing and sales (e.g. factory rep, MHRetailer, in-community home sales) – and/or – hands on LLLCommunity management EXPERIENCE, I want to hear from YOU – in writing! That’s where MOTIVATION comes in play. Almost everyone emails, talks on the telephone, and engages in interpersonal networking; but not many are able to communicate well on hard copy (paper). So, IF seriously interested in being considered and selected to be part of this writing team, engaged in this once-in-a-career-making opportunity, compose a one page letter to me. Following the opening paragraph greeting; in the second paragraph, succinctly describe your industry and or asset class experience to date, including names and dates. In the third short paragraph, tell me why YOU should be selected for this unique opportunity. Mail your correspondence to George Allen, c/o PMN Publishing, Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247. Please, no phone calls or emails about this opportunity at this time.

Compensation as a co-author or contributor? That depends, and varies, relative to the number of individuals engaged in writing and preparing the text. The dollar amount, &/or number of free copies of the book proper, will be modest. One’s greatest reward should come from having your name cited as one of the few individuals in all of manufactured housing, capable, experienced, and motivated to team pen one of the industry’s four cornerstone texts! All three earlier HOW TO classics have found a permanent home in the RV/MH Heritage Foundation’s prestigious Hall of Fame Library in Elkhart, IN. There’s no reason to believe this one won’t wind up there as well!

Why this text now? Beginning in 1988, we needed professional PM guidance to better operate (then) ‘mobile home parks’ cum manufactured home communities nationwide. During the early 1990s, some foresaw the coming MH renascence, as occupancy rates climbed – knowing new income-producing properties would need to be built. And shortly thereafter, in support of the property consolidation trend (i.e. think REIT wave @ 1994 & thereafter), the first and only realty investment text debuted. Today? Many large property portfolio firms have figured out how to buy new HUD-Code homes (i.e. Community Series Homes, or CSH Models featuring a WOW! factor and durability-enhancing features) directly from the factory; set-up on-site sales centers to market said homes at varying profit margins; often engaging in seller-financing to consummate transactions. (Hopefully one or more savvy individuals from such firms will express interest in sharing expertise and knowledge). Unfortunately, this learning curve has not been embraced by the majority of smaller LLLCommunity owners/operators, for various reasons – one being ‘lack of HOW TO knowledge’. That’s where and when this book can and will play a key role during the years ahead – assuming easy to access chattel capital does not return to the industry, and owners/operators must continue selling and financing new and resale homes to survive, i.e. keep rental homesites occupied and paying rent!

If seriously interested in being considered for selection to this writing team, we’ll be accepting letters until 1 December 2014. Not much will happen until the first of the year. If selected, and accepting the challenge, the first step will be to critique a preliminary book content outline that’s being crafted for the project. And once the 26th annual ALLEN REPORT has been distributed, during January 2015, focus will shift to getting this historic project underway!

In conclusion; what you just read is one of several key reasons the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance®, or COBA7®, was launched early in 2014. A couple dozen LLLCommunity owners/operators saw significant challenges, like this one and others, on the business horizon. However, no one within the industry (home manufacturers, national advocacy bodies, etc.), appeared willing to address continuing needs for ongoing statistical research, resource update & distribution, print & online communication, networking & deal-making opportunities, PM education & certification, and when need be, even national advocacy, e.g. ombudsman (press) responsibilities. Perhaps now is time for YOU to affiliate with COBA7®, become a bona fide ‘MHInsider’, and be considered for selection to this historic writing team.

III.

‘Next Big Story’ OR ‘Much Noise About Nothing’?

One has to be out of touch with the MH & RV industries to not know, read, see, even hear, the ongoing fracas (‘noisy fight’) being waged among national advocacy bodies representing all these folk, plus HUD…

With that said, for the time being we’re backing away from this unfolding story – to gather more information about the confab over whether roof overhang dimensions should, or should not be, included in the 400+/- square foot demarcation between HUD-Code manufactured housing and park model RVs.

However, to titillate you in the meantime, there’s also an additional issue, regarding the end use of park model RVs. The question is whether they’re year round or part time (i.e. seasonal) dwellings, within and outside land-lease-lifestyle communities, RV parks, and campgrounds. Know what complicates the matter still further? HUD’s published use of the term Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs, to describe park model RVs, and other similar structures. Some, if not many of us are happy to simply refer to these ‘small building’s, or one bedroom efficiency units, as ‘granny flats’!

Oh yes, and there’s one more factor – or perhaps a ‘red herring’. That being this: ‘Do you know the difference between a park model RV and a destination trailer?’ Didn’t think so! Well, we’re still learning tool. A hint. Investigate Breckenridge, part of Hartland RV, a subsidiary of Thor Industries, Inc. And the plot thickens….

Hey, if YOU can shed some definitive light on this convoluted, complicated, multifaceted matter for me, please do so, and the sooner the better!

Introduction to this week’s COBA7® blog posting at community-investor.com website:
I.
‘What No One Else Will Tell You About Insights & Errors Gleaned from the CFPB’s ‘Manufactured-housing (sic) Consumer Finance in the U.S. White Paper’!
II.
NEW ERA Continues to Unfold as CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY Forms Arrive with Pithy Ideas. However, national advocacy bodies show no interest in planning & hosting the manufactured housing industry’s first National Strategic Planning Meeting for businessmen and women.

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I.
WHAT NO ONE ELSE WILL TELL YOU ABOUT INSIGHTS & ERRORS GLEANED FROM THE CONSUMER FINANCE PROTTECTION BUREAU’S
‘Manufactured-housing (sic) Consumer Finance in the U.S.’ White Paper, released the last week of September.
Installment # 1 = this blog posting (insights) @ community-investor.com
Installment # 2 = next week’s blog posting (errors) at this website
Not a bad first, albeit somewhat flawed, attempt to describe and understand manufactured housing (one of four types of factory-built housing) and its’ joined at the hip real estate component, the land-lease-lifestyle community (a.k.a. manufactured home community) real estate asset class.
Here follows a recitation of interesting industry-related stats, some commonly known, most not so, with many recited here for the first time. Next week we’ll turn our attention to errors and omissions found throughout the White Paper.
“Manufactured housing accounts for six percent of all occupied housing…in the U.S.” p.4
“A greater proportion of households that live in manufactured housing are headed by a retiree (32 percent) than site-built households (24 percent).” P.5.
“About three-fifths of manufactured-housing residents who own their home also own the land it is sited on.” P.6 (Note the hyphenated M-H and dangling participle) Also, not footnoted.
“An estimated 65 percent of borrowers who own their land and who took out a loan to buy a manufactured home between 2001 and 2010 financed the purchase with a chattel loan.” P.6 (Where have all the commas gone?)
“…in the year 2000 alone, more than 75,000 consumers had their manufactured homes repossessed, about 3.5 times the typical number during the 1990s. Between the beginning of 1999 and the end of 2002, repossessed inventory grew more than fourfold to $1.3 billion.” P.6
“A factory-built home constructed after June 15, 1976 is eligible for designation as a manufactured home if…the structure is at least 320 square feet (in size) and constructed on a permanent (steel) chassis.” P.8 (Hmm. I always thought the figure was closer to 400 square feet)
“…in 112 U.S. counties – predominately in southeastern and southwestern states – over one-third of homes are manufactured housing.” P.11
“…the heads of households …in manufactured housing are a bit more likely to be younger than 30 or older than 70 than are site-built owner-occupant household heads.” P.13. A.k.a. homes long popular with the ‘newly wed & nearly dead’
“About 20 percent of households who recently purchased a manufactured home moved in from a previous manufactured home residence.” P.16 Not footnoted.
“…the median net worth among households…in manufactured housing of $26,000 (in 2010 dollars) was just about one quarter the median net worth of families in site—built homes.” *.17
“The median combined value of manufactured homes and associated land (among households that own the home and the land)is about 42 percent of the median value of existing site-bu8ilt homes in the U.S.” p.21
“…manufactured homes in land-lease communities – about 30 percent of all manufactured housing placements in recent years – are generally only eligible for chattel financing.” P.24. But the associated footnote goes on to say: “Anecdotal evidence and American Housing Survey data suggest an even greater share, potentially almost half, of the stock of manufactured homes purchased in recent years are located in (land-lease) communities.” NOTE. This is a clear indication of WHY WE NEED to identify the number of new HUD-Code homes, especially Community Series Homes, or CSH Models, going from the factory directly into land-lease-lifestyle communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities) throughout the U.S. today! GFA
“In mid-2003 Fannie Mae owned or guaranteed $9.1 billion in manufactured-housing (sic) securities, and by the end of 2004, after substantial impairments, the portfolio was valued at just $5.4billion.” p.29
“…it appears the national lending market for chattel loans is concentrated among five lenders: 21st Mortgage, Vanderbilt Mortgage, Triad Financial Services, U.S. Bank, and San Antonio Federal Credit Union.” P.30 Commonly known but rarely put in writing.
“…most manufactured-housing (sic) purchasers finance between $10,000 and $80,000.. The median loan amount for site-built home purchase(s) was $176,000, more than three times the manufactured home purchase loan median of $55,000.” P.30
“Due to the limited secondary market for…manufactured-home (sic) chattel and mortgage loans, over 70 percent of manufactured-home (sic) loans in HMDA are held in portfolio, compared with about 16 percent of mortgages for site-built homes.” P.37 HMDA not defined.
“…compared to approximately 88 manufactured housing producers in the U.S.in 2002, around half that many are active in the space today.” P.39
“The largest three manufacturers held almost 70 percent (national) market share of new manufactured housing production as of the end of 2013. Clayton Homes…has been the largest manufacturer…with home production share of 45 percent as of the end of 2013. Other large national and regional manufacturers include Cavco Industries, Champion Home Builders, Legacy Housing, and Skyhline Corporation.” P.40
The smaller-dollar loan exemption FOR “Transactions secured solely by a manufactured home and not land will be exempt from the (‘in-person’) appraisal requirement if the creditor gives the consumer one of three types of information about the home’s value.” P.53
Well, that does it for now. Remember to return here next week, for a list of errors, terminology missteps, and other shortfalls, gleaned from CFPB’s White Paper titled: ‘Manufactured –housing (sic) Consumer Finance in the U.S.’

II.
NEW ERA Continues to Unfold as CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY Forms Arrive with Pithy Ideas. However, national advocacy bodies show no interest in planning & hosting the manufactured housing industry’s first National Strategic Planning Meeting for Businessmen & Women.
Last week or so we shared the first ‘matters & suggestions’ offered in support of discussion regarding ‘The Future of Manufactured Housing as ‘housing’ versus ‘trailers’.
Here’re the latest ideas to arrive:
• Maybe reorient our industry to think home ‘sales first’ and ‘shipments second’, reversing the decades long practice of needlessly saturating local housing markets with new homes for which there are few or no legitimately qualified buyers.
• Begin to allow prospective homebuyers to ‘shop and buy’ new manufactured homes online, matching them with qualified installers, independent (street) MHRetailers, even land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators who’re selling and seller-financing new homes on-site.
• Perhaps cultivate capable, qualified, experienced manufactured housing installers to become customer service and or warranty work agents for HUD-Code home manufacturers.
• Seriously explore the possibility of promoting net zero (utility usage) home designs, presently enjoying popularity in California, to other local housing markets in the U.S.

And then there’re ideas relating to ‘The Future of land-lease-lifestyle communities’ as ‘lifestyle’ & ‘investment’:
• Continue the Networking Roundtable-initiated conversation with Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, to identify real estate-secured mortgage vehicles that also take into account the full or partial value of new manufactured homes sold and seller-financed on-site.
• Effect wider knowledge and distribution of tools already in place, designed to ensure we sell new and resale homes on-site to prospective homebuyers qualified to buy them, e.g. Use of ‘Ah Ha! & Uh Oh! Worksheet, the 3:1 Site Rent Rule, etc..
• Once and for all, replace the obsolete Woodall Star Systems of quality-grading land-lease-lifestyle communities. Reconsider the ABClassification System rejected by the NCC a decade ago – or come up with an entirely new, workable quality grading system.
It’s not too late for you to make your ideas and views known. Simply mail them to GFA c/o Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247 or FAX them to (317) 346-7158, or email: gfa7156@aol.com

COBA7’s New SSRD: ‘Directory of Government Enterprises, Federal Agencies, & Nongovernmental Organizations (‘NGO’s) with Ongoing Interest in Manufactured Housing and the Land-lease-lifestyle Communities!’ This has not been done before!

III

‘They’re Arriving, They’re Arriving! What?’ ‘The CHALLENGE, the OPPORTUNITY’ forms distributed during National Public Forums distributed during the 23rd Networking Roundtable, 9/11/2014. If you haven’t done so yet, FAX form to (317) 346-7158 ASAP!

TWO Official WHITE PAPERs, both describing HUD-Code manufactured housing & land-lease-lifestyle communities are published within 30 days of each other!

Hmm. Is there a message there? Sure. The MHIndustry & LLLCommunity property type were first profiled in preparation for two National Public Forums the morning of 9/11/2014 in Peachtree City, GA… And now, a second one is released @ 9/30/2014 on an even broader scale. What’s going on with manufactured housing and LLLCommunities?!

I hope our national advocacy bodies and leaders are paying attention. First, an Official WHITE PAPER published by the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance®, or COBA7®; and now, one from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB – both effectively ‘setting the stage’ for a much-needed NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING this Winter! Where and Why? At an easily accessible, reasonably-priced meeting venue, in the Midwest or warmer clime, to plan and put our industry/asset class on the track to restored prosperity! An event planned and co-hosted by the MHARR, MHI, and COBA7®.

In the meantime, what’s the gist of the CFPB’s ‘Manufactured Housing Consumer Finance in the U.S.’ White paper? Here’s what they describe as being key findings:

• “Manufactured housing is disproportionately located in non-metropolitan areas.”

• “Compared with residents of site-built homes, manufactured-housing (sic) residents are somewhat more likely to be older and tend to have lower incomes or net worth.”

• ‘Manufactured homes typically cost less than site-built homes.”

• “About three-fifths of manufactured-housing residents who own their home also own the land it is sited on (sic).”

• “An estimated 65 percent of borrowers who own their land and who took out a loan to buy a manufactured home between 2001 and 2010 financed the purchase with a chattel loan.”

• “The current state of manufactured housing production, retail, and financing reflects in part a rapid growth during the 1990s and subsequent sharp contraction.”

Beyond the intermittent use of ‘manufactured-housing’ & ‘manufactured housing’ lingo, a dangling participle, omission of a needed comma or two, and use of ‘site-built borrower’ instead of ‘site-built homeowner borrower‘– all in just these seven key findings, the White Paper does provide historic and helpful descriptions of industry trends, along with a few factual errors.

For a complete review of the CFPB White Paper, read it in an upcoming issue of the Allen CONFIDENTIAL!, the Allen Letter professional journal, or maybe here. To subscribe, affiliate with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance® or COBA7® via the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

This is the lengthy but apt title of another new Signature Series Resource Document, or SSRD. Available only from the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance®, or COBA7®! This ‘breaking new ground’ SSRD will be distributed as a lagniappe, in the November 2015 issue of the Allen Letter professional journal.

This first edition SSRD lists nearly a dozen GSEs, agencies, and NGOs that routinely interface with the HUD-Code manufactured housing industry and land-lease-lifestyle community income-producing property type. It also brings the total number of SSRDs, updated annually and reprinted month-by-month, to 15! The e new directory does not list national trade and advocacy bodies with an affinity for manufactured housing and LLLCommunities. Those not for profit and for profit groups are identified, along with respective contact information, in the ‘MH Trade Body Directory’ SSRD distributed earlier in the year.

No other national MHIndustry and or LLLCommunity trade or advocacy entity provides anywhere near this volume and variety of published statistical research; product, service, lender, media, association and consultancy contact information; even the Official Lexicon, ‘State of the Industry’ outline, and formal history of the industry and asset class! So it’s understandable, COBA7® affiliates are increasingly referred to as ‘MHInsiders’.

To ensure receiving your inaugural copy of this new SSRD, telephone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Elect to affiliate with COBA7® at the Option II level for $544.95. This provides an annual subscription to the Allen Letter professional journal, and 15 SSRDs!

III.

They’re Arriving, They’re Arriving! What?

‘The CHALLENGE, the OPPORTUNITY’
worksheets, distributed during two National Public Forums at 23rd Networking Roundtable.

OK, but what are they saying? Here’re samplings of the first bunch that have arrived, re: The Future of Manufactured Housing, & The Future of LLLCommunities. Have taken the liberty of editing to use consistent terminology throughout the commentary.

The Future of Manufactured Housing

• How to identify and reach owners/operators of smaller (i.e. less than 100 rental homesites apiece) LLLCommunities, to sell them new Community Series Homes, or CSH Models, to fill vacant rental homesites – and teach them how to sell & seller-finance these transactions! The larger portfolio-owned properties are already well into the routine. Smaller owners, in many cases, don’t seem to know they have a problem – of if they do, how to deal with it (e.g. filling functionally obsolete rental homesites)

• Get this matter out into the open (discussion): What happens if vehicular titling of manufactured homes goes away, replaced by ‘what’? What might be the tax consequences, and otherwise, for homeowner/site lessees. Good or bad for the manufactured housing business and LLLCommunities nationwide

The Future of Land-lease-lifestyle Communities

• Let’s make the most of the opportunity Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac executives offered during their panel presentation, and open discussion afterwards, to find a way, or create a new ‘finance vehicle’, whereby real estate-secured mortgages might be enhanced, value wise, by at least partial – if not full – inclusion of the value of ‘park-owned homes’ on-site in LLLCommunities being refinanced.

• Once and for all, ‘proof’ whether Allen’s 3:1 ratio, for estimating site rent to be in sync with other forms of multifamily rental housing (e.g. 3BR2B conventional apartments) in the same local housing market; or, bless some large property portfolio owners/operators preference for a 2:1 ratio, e.g. where apartment rent = $900/month; and 3:1 ration = site rent at $300/month; or, 2:1 ratio = site rent at $450/month. Yes, every local housing market has its’ own characteristics, and might well be ‘different’, but a proven guideline would be helpful to some of us.

• In 2008, Randy Rowe talked, in Tampa, about LLLCommunity owners/operators providing a fair ‘value proposition’ for our homeowner/site lessee residents. Know what? No one, to my knowledge, has ever quantified that concept. Sure would be helpful to know when, and when not, our housing and rent packages together are fair ‘value propositions’.

• At the recent Networking Roundtable, during the Lenders Panel, and during the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac panel, individuals referred to the ‘star value’ of various LLLCommunities. The Star System (Described in Woodall’s Mobile Home Park Directory) hasn’t been published, let alone be updated, since the early 1970s – that’s nearly 50 years ago! The ABClassification System was created and published, but not blessed by MHI’s NCC, in 1998. Its’ seven part methodology and letter/diamond classifications are used today by some RE brokers and appraisers. When will we ever have a universally approved and used quality classification system for land-lease-lifestyle communities?

OK, this will have to do for today. Still have a fair number of other ideas and suggestions sent to me for consideration. Of course, Nathan Smith & Dick Jennison of MHI; as well as John Bostick & Danny Ghorbani of MHARR are receiving this input. So keep your contributions a – coming, along with encouragement to MHARR, MHI, & COBA7® to jointly plan and facilitate a National Strategic Planning Meeting this Winter.

If you haven’t yet mailed your completed ‘The CHALLENGE, the OPPORTUNITY’ form to the five MHIndustry leaders listed on the verso side of the form, please do so ASAP! Your ideas and opinions are valuable!

be 10/27-29, at the Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago. Learn from Ritz Carlton executive trainers how to run your manufactured housing business!

Feeling ritzy (showy & costly)? Early registration for NCC members is only $549.00 per person, but jumps $250.00 up to $799 after 10/26! And the Drake hotel’s rack rate is only $239/night, before taxes and other related charges. So, this two day event will cost you a minimum of only $1,047.00!

Of course, this not so modest event amount does not include one’s transportation to and from the event. BUT hey, if you live and work in Chicagoland, they’ll be minimal anyway, as or if you return home each night to forgo the luxury of the Drake experience.

Hmm. This second consecutive year venue in downtown Chicago suggests it be renamed Chicago’s Fall Leadership Forum.

In any event, if you decide to attend & spend; hope you learn something useful, like how to affect a Ritz-Carlton culture transfer to your land-lease-lifestyle community portfolio.